In our first book, "Love You," Kathie and I chronicled 365 days of our military career. The time we were separated during my deployment to Vietnam. The book shared our love letters and recorded exchanges as I did my military duty while Kathie worked to raise our two young sons during my absence.
"What Have We Done?" follows our transition from our military career to our second career as owners and operators of a "mom and pop" fishing lodge in northern Minnesota for 19 years.
As we look back on our life, it's apparent that we have lived through four different phases: growing up, a military career, a second career, and retirement.
Our military career had been quite rewarding. Our boys were born in military hospitals in Massachusetts and Indiana. We had experienced life in Berlin, Germany for three years with two young children, the separation during my tour in Vietnam, two years of adventure in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and three wonderful years at Fort Lewis, Washington. Our sons, Mike, and Jim were young adults and looking forward to college.
It was now time to make hard decisions about what we were going to do after Jim's career in the military ended.
An opportunity came along to make dreams come true. We bought the Northern Lights Lodge on Bear Island Lake in Ely, Minnesota.
"What have we done?"

What Have We Done?, The story of one family's challenges and successes in the Northwoods of Minnesota